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Physical Attributes Influence on Employers

If You Have the Right Skills, Does it Matter if Your Tongue is Pierced?

Can a tattoo
trash your chance at a job with some employers? Will a purple streak in your hair
push you out of the running as a job candidate? Are piercings
prohibited in the real "world of work"?

Employers who responded to the Job Outlook 2006 survey say a job candidate's grooming
has a
strong influence on their opinion of the candidate. (See Figure 1.) The two things
most likely to influence an employer? Personal grooming (Do
you have body odor or smell too strongly of cologne? Are your face and hands clean?)
and interview attire (Business attire vs. jeans and a
T-shirt) clean and unwrinkled.

Figure 1: Candidate physical attributes and their influence on employers, by percent
of respondents

Attribute

No Influence

Slight Influence

Strong Influence

Grooming

6%

21%

73%

Nontraditional interview attire

13%

38%

49%

Handshake

22%

45%

33%

Body piercing

26%

43%

31%

Obvious tattoos

25%

46%

29%

Nontraditional hair color

26%

46%

28%

Unusual hairstyle

30%

49%

21%

Earring (male)

54%

34%

12%

Beard

73%

22%

5%

Mustache

83%

16%

1%

Source: Job Outlook 2006. National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Employers reviewed a list of possible physical attributes and rated each on how it
would influence their opinions of a candidate's
suitability for employment and how much.

"These results are consistent with what we've seen in the past," says Marilyn Mackes,
executive
director of the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the nonprofit organization
that conducts the Job Outlook survey. "Job candidates need
to remember that their overall grooming and choice of interview attire project an
image; they are marketing themselves to the employer as a potential
employee, and part of marketing is the packaging."

Interestingly, employers indicated that a candidate's handshake is likely to have
a
greater influence on their opinion of a candidate than many other more obvious attributes,
such as unusual hairstyles and colors, tattoos, and body
piercings. However, that doesn't give job candidates license to dye, tattoo, or pierce
with abandon, cautions Mackes.

"It's important for job
seekers to recognize that attributes that exert even a slight influence over an employer
can be just as important as those that exert a strong
influence," says Mackes. "When an employer has to make a choice among job candidates,
these are the items that could make or break a candidacy."